Overview

"An accessible illustrated introducton to the networks we use every day, from Facebook and Google to WiFi and the InternetWhat makes WiFi faster at home than at a coffee shop? How does Google order search results? Is it really true that everyone on Facebook is connected by six steps or less? The Power of Networks answers questions like these for the first time in a way that all of us can understand. Using simple language, analogies, stories, hundreds of illustrations, and no more math than simple addition and multiplication, Christopher Brinton and Mung Chiang provide a smart and accessible introduction to the handful of big ideas that drive the computer networks we use every day. The Power of Networks unifies these ideas through six fundamental principles of networking. These principles explain the difficulties in sharing network resources efficiently, how crowds can be wise or not so wise depending on the nature of their connections, why there are many layers in a network, and more. Along the way, the authors also talk with and share the special insights of renowned experts such as Google's Eric Schmidt, former Verizon Wireless CEO Dennis Strigl, and ""fathers of the Internet"" Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn."

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9780691183305

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Reviews

Using simple language, analogies, stories, hundreds of illustrations, and no more math than simple addition and multiplication, Christopher Brinton and Mung Chiang provide a smart but accessible introduction to the handful of big ideas that drive the technical and social networks we use every day--from cellular phone networks and cloud computing to the Internet and social media platforms. --L'enseignement Mathematique If your job demands it or if you're simply interested in learning about how networks function under the hood, [The Power of Networks] is a great introduction. --Tibi Puiu, ZME Science Authoritative but accessible. . . . Pitched perfectly at the reader with a background in technology who's interested in finding out more about the principles that underpin so much of daily life. . . . This isn't a superficial book though, and the easily grasped comparisons lead on to an in-depth treatment, though without the maths of a full-blown text book. --Dominic Lenton, Engineering and Technology The Power of Networks is a nice book that I believe many readers will enjoy, especially readers interested in modern technology, engineering and innovation. For readers that are more mathematically inclined, it also does a nice job of explaining important topics from mathematics, such random graphs and the Watts-Strogatz theory, and what these ideas have to do with networks. If you have any interest in network theory at all, I recommend this book. --Jason M. Graham, MAA Reviews Christopher Brinton and Mung Chiang offer an open and accessible pathway through the complexity of network design and deployment, and offer a readily understood, yet commendably deep, analysis of the technology and its operation. . . . A key strength of this study is its depth, for while the topics themselves are often apparently straightforward . . . the authors are admirably keen to drill down into the really important detail on which networks are founded, ensuring that we gain a real grasp of how the essential structures behave and operate. . . . In a world in which it is increasingly difficult to live without a profoundly intimate relationship with digital networks--whether you like it or not--the material presented in this text could usefully form a universal part of public education. . . . To describe this book as a course in digital citizenship would not be to overstate its importance. --John Gilbey, Times Higher Education

The Power of Networks is a well-written and engaging book that I think many readers will find interesting and insightful. --Jason M. Graham, MAA Reviews Christopher Brinton and Mung Chiang offer an open and accessible pathway through the complexity of network design and deployment . . . a readily understood, yet commendably deep, analysis of the technology and its operation. . . . To describe this book as a course in digital citizenship would not be to overstate its importance. --John Gilbey, Times Higher Education Networks have played a powerful connective role in human societies since the dawn of agriculture. Brinton and Chiang document and analyze this phenomenon--and reinforce our appreciation of it. --Vint Cerf, Internet pioneer Christopher Brinton and Mung Chiang both have backgrounds in electrical engineering, which combined with experience of topics like big data analytics allows them to strike an authoritative but accessible tone. --Dominic Lenton, Engineering and Technology

The Power of Networks is a well-written and engaging book that I think many readers will find interesting and insightful. --Jason M. Graham, MAA Reviews Christopher Brinton and Mung Chiang both have backgrounds in electrical engineering, which combined with experience of topics like big data analytics allows them to strike an authoritative but accessible tone. --Dominic Lenton, Engineering and Technology Christopher Brinton and Mung Chiang offer an open and accessible pathway through the complexity of network design and deployment . . . a readily understood, yet commendably deep, analysis of the technology and its operation. . . . To describe this book as a course in digital citizenship would not be to overstate its importance. --John Gilbey, Times Higher Education Networks have played a powerful connective role in human societies since the dawn of agriculture. Brinton and Chiang document and analyze this phenomenon--and reinforce our appreciation of it. --Vint Cerf, Internet pioneer

Author Information

Christopher G. Brinton is the Head of Advanced Research at Zoomi Inc. and lecturer in electrical engineering at Princeton University. Mung Chiang is the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering at Purdue University and the recipient of the 2013 National Science Foundation Waterman Award.

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